Indiana students call on lawmakers to address youth mental health crisis amid school counselor shortage

INDIANAPOLIS — According to the Indiana Department of Health, nearly half of all Indiana high school students reported suffering from depression last year, while nearly 25% said they had seriously considered suicide. In 2022, 143 Hoosiers ages 10-24 lost their lives to suicide according to the Indiana Youth Institute.

”Hoosier students are tired of burying their friends,” Cole Ramsey, a senior at Western Boone Jr./Sr. High School, said. ”There are very few students across the state who have not lost a friend, family, or community member to suicide, drug overdoses, or other mental health-related issues.”

Ramsey was one of several students who gathered at the Statehouse Wednesday to express their concerns about the youth mental health crisis to teachers, parents, and lawmakers.

”Every year I’ve been [a student at Western Boone], we have unfortunately lost a student to suicide or drug overdose,” Ramsey said. ”As a student, I could not sit by idly and watch as my peers and my classmates die.”

”I think so many students need to understand that they are not alone,” Bella McNally, a junior at Westfield High School, said.

”I’ve watched my family, my friends and family members, fall apart at the loss of loved ones,” Keirsten Nies, a senior at Pioneer High School, said.

Caden Kerns, a junior at Eastern Howard County High School, recounted a story of a freshman who took his life last year.

”He was a baseball player, he was smart, he had friends, everybody knew who he was, he was a good kid.” Kerns said. “He was being bullied, and he couldn’t take it…it tore apart our, like, our everyday lives.”

Kerns, along with several other students, called for more school counselors in Indiana public schools. According to the Indiana Youth Institute, the recommended ratio is 250 students for each counselor. However, Indiana school counselors statewide currently help an average of 500 students each.

”It’s not uncommon for there to be a queue, a waiting list to see your counselors,” Ramsey said. ”Being a student at a small, rural school, we have very few counselors.”

”Within our school, for specific mental health counselors, I believe we only have two for 4,000 students,” Yavuz Atlamaz, a senior at Fishers High School, said.

”I speak from experience when I say that rural communities are in dire need of resources,” Nies said. ”It is not enough to respond to an atrocity, but to prevent it as well.”

This comes as the state is rolling out a new mental health grant program to combat loneliness in rural communities (specifically, with populations under 50,000. Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, who oversees the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (the office in charge of the program), said the program will award grants ranging from $1,000 to $50,000.

While the grant is not exclusively for youth-related mental health initiatives, projects that foster intergenerational initiatives and community-based wellness centers qualify.

”We’ll have improved health outcomes as a result, and we’ll have better communities when people are engaged and connected,” Lt. Gov. Crouch said.

Communities have until September 12 to apply. State Sen. J.D. Ford, who hosted the roundtable discussion, said he supports the program, and is hopeful to add even more tools to the toolbox next session to help students.

”We’ve talked about the data. We’ve talked about the statistics. We’ve talked about the need for this. Now we must do something,” State Sen. Ford said.

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